Many district-led summer learning programs are at the intersection of in-school and out-of-school time (OST) learning. These summer programs play a critical role in providing students with academic supports and enrichment during the summer months. Districts offer a range of program types, but most are motivated by district and state policies…

An estimated 339,000 workers were employed in foodservice operations in the nation's elementary and secondary schools. While news stories often focus on so-called "lunch ladies," the school foodservice workforce encompasses employees ranging from front-line cafeteria workers to chefs and food preparation staff to administrators and…

This National Early Head Start Services Snapshot summarizes key data on demographics and services for infants, toddlers, and pregnant women served by Early Head Start programs. The data in this Snapshot is a subset of the annual Program Information Report (PIR) submission to the Office of Head Start. Data categories include: (1) Funded Enrollment;…

This report describes the several programs devoted to financially assisting minority-serving institutions (MSIs) under the Higher Education Act (HEA). MSIs are eligible for other federal programs for which institutions of higher education (IHEs) and nonprofit organizations are eligible if they meet the program eligibility criteria. This report…

This report examines the implementation of Summer 305, an enhanced summer program that operated from June 14 through August 5 during the summer of 2022 at 113 sites in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (M-DCPS). Twenty program offerings were provided to accelerate learning recovery, develop foundational skills, and address social and emotional…

The "IDRA Newsletter" serves as a vehicle for communication with educators, school board members, decision-makers, parents, and the general public concerning the educational needs of all children across the United States. The focus of this issue is "The Census Effect." Contents include: (1) The 2020 Census is Here -- Schools…

The world of student loans and debt forgiveness for teachers is a patchwork of overlapping programs, contradictory regulations, and expensive subsidies that date back to Dwight D. Eisenhower's signing of the National Defense Education Act of 1958. The 60-year experiment in using federal loan dollars to encourage students to become teachers could…

For middle schools to fully achieve their goals, it is important for them to be staffed with teachers who understand the unique developmental needs of young adolescents and are specifically prepared to meet those needs. Middle school leaders have long been advocates of specialized teacher preparation and licensure; however, the current terrain of…

Funded grant projects all involve some form of evaluation, and Advanced Technological Education (ATE) grants are no exception. Program evaluation serves as a critical component not only for evaluating if a project has met its intended and desired outcomes, but the evaluation process is also a central feature of the grant application itself.…

Community colleges, which are public, two-year institutions of higher education, have become a major provider of education and training that directly leads to a job in a particular occupation. To help community colleges build capacity to provide job training, the federal government has funded several grant programs over the past 15 years. Recent…

The federal role in higher education has grown over the past two decades, and now a new administration has the opportunity to strengthen policies that support students and their colleges and universities. To help inform these decisions, the Urban Institute convened a bipartisan group of scholars and policy advisers to write a series of memos…

This resource was prepared in response to a request from a Race to the Top -- Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) State for a high-level summary of the March 2016 research brief, "Coordinated Monitoring Systems for Early Care and Education" (see ED583970), prepared by Child Trends for the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation…

The United States democratic system includes characteristics of capitalism as well as socialism. Perhaps the most socialistic endeavor of the US is its K-12 public school system; in fact, US public schools are necessary for democracy to thrive and to create an educated and well-informed populace. However, capitalism and socialism are strange…

Career Technical Education (CTE) can provide an on-ramp for rural learners to access meaningful, high-wage careers while simultaneously strengthening the talent pipeline to meet regional labor demand. Yet rural learners all too often face an uphill battle when it comes to accessing high-quality CTE. Scarce resources, limited regional employers and…

Children from low-income families often enter kindergarten academically behind their higher income peers. Recent findings also indicate gaps in social-emotional aspects of school readiness, raising questions about cross-domain relations. Using a subsample (N = 3,485) of 3- and 4-year-olds attending center-based programming in the Head Start Impact…